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Friday, September 21, 2012

Sepia Saturday: A Jollett by any other name

Sepia Saturday challenges
bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

The obvious topic for this week’s Sepia Saturday should
be the movie theater, but since I’ve done that already, I have no choice but to look for inspiration
in the movie being shown in the prompt, “The Ex-Convict.”

The world of the family historian is usually rather dull and
pedestrian. It means sifting through
census records, studying handwriting and fiddling with magnifying glasses to
discern the name of a missing ancestor. It means posting inquiries on surname
boards and county forums in hopes of connecting with a distant cousin who wants
to share information. It means creating
a family chart with 7 generations only to have your husband/daughter/cousin/BFF
say, “Wow that’s a lot of work. What time does the game come on?”

If it weren’t for the few criminals in my family tree, I’d
have nothing to look forward to as a family historian.

Actually, most of my ancestors' crimes are not THAT shocking: a couple of guys perpetrating fraud and some
Confederate deserters. I have a wife
abuser and one murderer – maybe it was manslaughter.

But my favorite criminal actually served some serious
time. Yes, in jail. The joint.
The clink. The pokey. The slammer.
The hoosegow. The Big House.

And the crime? He
was a horse thief.

In the nineteenth century, a horse was more than just
transportation; it was a means to making a living. Even more than that, it was essential to
survival when one needed to escape from harm.
Horse theft was a serious crime that led to the hanging tree out
west. But here in Virginia, William H.
Jollett (my great-grandfather’s nephew, my first cousin three times removed)
got to spend about four years of a five-year sentence in Richmond’s “Greybar Hotel.”

1870 Richmond CensusClick to enlarge

Horse thieves were considered to be no good, dirty, rotten
scoundrels. And by all accounts, William H. Jollett was just that. He reportedly ate soap in order to get sick
enough for ol’ Doc Shuller to approve his early release from prison so that he
could recuperate at the home of his father’s half-brother in Rockingham County,
Virginia.

From there William Jollett’s life really went to hell. He
got a young girl “in a family way” and then took off on his sister’s black
mare. From that moment William H.
Jollett ceased to exist. He is nowhere
to be found in census records, death records, or land dealings. But a year later in 1876 a Giles County,
Virginia, girl named Hattie Echols married one William P. Boyd, a man who did not
exist before then.

Boyd researchers have some strong evidence that their
ancestor William Preston Boyd was the notorious William Henry Jollett, a man on
the run for committing some unknown act more horrific than stealing a horse and
getting a girl pregnant, a man whose questionable and shameful past was revealed only to two who succeeded in
taking the truth to their graves.

It would be absolutely criminal to miss what’s showing
over at Sepia Saturday.

Whoa, boy! What a post. Loved your lingo, Wendy. You always make me laugh. It sounds as if there was no chance for a normal life until he did put himself into the underground witness program. I wonder if he straightened up after the name change?

This is great. I haven't run across any criminals in my line yet ... just some folks they knew (wandering naked and drunk through the streets of Yoncalla).

Since Wendy expect this kind of humor on my part, let me intercede here (and you being the other party, that's alright, me thinks: I changed my name this year [legally] and I still have NOT "straightened" out...(pun intended...)I've been drunk, I'm been naked (and then some), but never wandering the streets (well, not quite...). Possibly why I don't have a record... I might be more conservative than what people figure me for... As if!!There you go Wendy!! Now you can act all flustered!!Again, as if!!...(I think I'd like to do coffee with you some day...);)~ HUGZ

The whole Boyd Jollett thing makes me crazy and it makes me feel bad for Wm Jollett/Boyd to have gone to these measures to stay hidden, and then his family never really know the truth. I am glad we connected with them and learned of William.

My sister and I were contacted by Boyd researchers back in the 90s (when I had a website on Geocities), but we couldn't come up with any proof about the mysterious crime. Then just a few weeks ago, I heard from another Boyd researcher, so our interest has been renewed.

All I can say, that he is lucky that he did not live in England at that time, otherwise he would have been transported to the colony. Wendy you would have to search here as well. He just changed his name; here in Australia it was a common occurrence, or they just disappeared into the bush. It is a great story and it makes the family sort of more interesting!

I love it. Who hasn't been tempted at some point in their lives to disappear, change names and invent a new life. Every person who has ever done any family history research will identify with what you say.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to find a black sheep with the family name even if I haven't linked him to us yet. Horse stealing in the Uk would have meant him being tansported to Australia/Tasmania for sure.Great story.

An ancestor like that keeps things interesting - but also frustrating, I imagine, with the name change and disappearances. Although he didn't share his most terrible crime, did he at least tell someone in the family that he was a Jollett? Really interesting post, Wendy!

He shared enough with a son (and subsequently a grandson) to lead them to the truth of his identity. Apparently Hattie Echols knew the truth. But no one seems to know what the next big crime was, if indeed there was one.

Fascinating post. Was the story of William Henry Jollette passed down through your family? Since you know so many details about his life, I wondered if you already had the information or learned more through research. I like the "Greybar Hotel" name for the jail!

Actually, this story did not come through my family but from the Boyd researchers who contacted my sister and me through our old Geocities website. However, our side of the family has another story that presented a different puzzle but in light of the Boyd story seems to intersect. More to come on that later (I have a short series planned elaborating on the Jollett/Boyd mystery).

Love it. This was a great post. I found a few skallywags in my family tree too. As you wrote horse stealing was very serious. My grandfather was not allowed to drive a car due to his alcoholism but he was allowed a truck as he needed it for his farm work. Love the old stories.QMM

My father and uncle used to joke with me when we'd discuss our Scottish ancestors that we descended from horse thieves. That was the only answer I ever got. Of course, they just made it up because they knew nothing. To actually discover one in the branches of the tree is quite fascinating.

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net